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Gose Goes with the Pros

The Toronto Blue Jays may lose Jose Bautista for a long time with this wrist injury and as insurance, pulled top prospect Anthony Gose from his AAA game last night. The California native, who was born in 1990 had been on the Blue Jays radar for a long time. When the Blue Birds traded Roy Halladay to the Phillies in 2009, Gose was a can't touch prospect and Toronto settled on Kyle Drabek, Kyle d'Arnaud and Michael Taylor. But just six months later the Phillies acquired Roy Oswalt from the Astros and along with J.A. Happ sent Anthony Gose to Houston. Later that same day the Blue Jays sent Brett Wallace to Houston in exchange for Gose and he appears to be on his way to the Bigs.

Two things we know about the Gose.....he is extremely fast, and he strikes out a lot. In the last 4 minor league seasons (including the first half of this season) Gose has swiped 220 bags and hit 40 triples! In deeper leagues where SB count, Gose will absolutely be valuable, just don't expect much more than a .250-.265 batting avg AT BEST. Playing on the turf in Toronto should benefit his skill set.

Gose is a career .265 hitter over 5 minor league seasons but he is hitting .292 this year and has cut down on his K rate. Before this season he struck out every 3 or so ABs. This season he is doing so every 4 ABs and has nearly walked as many times as he did all of last season. Not that he walks a lot but it shows maturity and patience at the plate and that will be the key to his success at the Major League level.

I see the Jays batting him at the bottom of the lineup, maybe even 9th (like Yanks did/do with Gardner). But he SHOULD be batting leadoff instead of Brett Lawrie. Also with Rajai Davis and Ben Francisco on the club its safe to assume that Gose will not play everyday. He is an extremely risky add to your roster due to lack of guaranteed playing time and a plethera of OF on the the Jays roster. However, if you have space on your bench and check daily lineups before game times, Gose is worth a stash.